High hopes of the eco visionaries

Former City workers are getting a new lease of life with ideas that help the planet

IS a new crop of eco-entrepreneurs emerging from the wreckage of the financial crisis? That may not be what Shriti Vadera, the business minister, meant when she claimed to see the green shoots of recovery last month, but in an increasingly bleak economic climate they may represent one of the few areas of new growth.

For many, going green is also a smart business move: Gordon Brown has spoken of 25m jobs worldwide by 2050 in the low-carbon energy sector and of the government's aim to grab a significant slice of them for the UK. Before he was replaced as business secretary by Lord Mandelson, John Hutton forecast 1m "green" jobs over the next two decades. He has moved on to the Ministry of Defence, but the official target remains.

Kresse Wesling is something of a poster girl for the new movement. She started out working as an analyst for